In the first section of this article, an operationalized notion of preternatural experience is described which includes two general classes of experience: religio-mystical (Ontic) and paranormal (Perceptual). The exploratory study which follows uses the personality measures of the complete Tellegen Differential Personality Questionnaire taken from 120 subjects who reported having had spontaneous religio-mystical and/or paranormal experiences at some time in the past. The scores on all eleven primary dimensions, three higher order affect factors, and two validity scales were used individually, in univariate ANOVAs, and together, in a Direct Discriminant Function Analysis, to successfully separate two classes of preternatural experients from non-experients and from each other.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BackK.BourqueL., Can Feelings Be Enumerated?, Behavioral Science, 5, pp. 228–239, 1970.
2.
HardyA., The Spiritual Nature of Man, Clarendon Press, London, England, 1979.
3.
HayD., Religious Experience Amongst a Group of Postgraduate Students: A Qualitative Study, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 18, pp. 164–182, 1979.
4.
HayD.MorisyA., Reports of Ecstatic, Paranormal or Religious Experience in Great Britain and the United States — A Comparison of Trends, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 17, pp. 255–268, 1978.
5.
ThomasL. E.CooperP. E., Measurement and Incidence of Mystical Experiences: An Exploratory Study, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 17, pp. 433–437, 1978.
6.
StaceW. T., Mysticism and Philosophy, Lippincott, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1960.
7.
NelsonP. L., The Technology of the Preternatural: An Empirically Based Model of Transpersonal Experiences, The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 22, pp. 35–50, 1990.
8.
NelsonP. L., A Survey of Mystical, Visionary and Remote Perception Experiences, in Exploring the Paranormal: Perspectives on Belief and Experience, ZollschanG. K.SchumakerJ. F.WalshG. F. (eds.), Prism, Dorset, United Kingdom, pp. 184–214, 1989.
9.
HultkrantzA., The Concept of the Supernatural in Primal Religion, History of Religions, 22, pp. 231–253, 1983.
10.
IrwinH. J., Parapsychological Phenomena and the Absorption Domain, The Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 79, pp. 1–11, 1985.
11.
IrwinH. J., Personality and Psi Performance: Directions of Current Research, Parapsychology Review, 17:5, pp. 1–4, 1986.
12.
MyersS. A.AustrinH. R.GrissoJ. T.NickesonR. C., Personality Characteristics as Related to the Out-of-Body Experience, Journal of Parapsychology, 47:2, pp. 131–144, 1983.
13.
IrwinH. J., Some Psychological Dimensions of the Out-of-Body Experience, Parapsychology Review, 12, pp. 1–6, 1981.
14.
TellegenA.AtkinsonG., Openness to Absorbing and Self-Altering Experiences (“Absorption”), a Trait Related to Hypnotic Susceptibility, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 83, pp. 268–277, 1974.
15.
HearneK. M., A Questionnaire and Personality Study of Self-Styled Psychics and Mediums, Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 55, pp. 404–411, 1989.
16.
WilsonS. C.BarberT. X., The Fantasy-Prone Personality: Implications for Understanding Imagery, Hypnosis, and Parapsychological Phenomena. PSI Research, 1:3, pp. 94–116, 1982.
17.
ThomasL. E.CooperP. E., Incidence and Psychological Correlates of Intense Spiritual Experiences, The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 12, pp. 75–85, 1980.
18.
NelsonP. L., Personality Factors in the Frequency of Reported Spontaneous Preternatural Experiences, The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 21, pp. 193–209, 1989.
19.
TellegenA., Brief Manual for the Differential Personality Questionnaire, The University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 1982.
20.
DittesJ. E., Psychology of Religion, in The Handbook of Social Psychology, (Vol. 5), LindsayG.AronsonE. (eds.), Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts, pp. 602–659, 1969.
21.
FreudS., The Future of an Illusion, The Hogarth Press, London, England, 1928.
22.
PrinceR.SavageC., Mystical States and the Concept of Regression, in The Highest State of Consciousness, WhiteJ. (ed.), Anchor Books, Garden City, New York, pp. 114–134, 1972.
23.
AlexanderF., Buddhistic Training as an Artificial Catatonia, Psychoanalysis, 19, pp. 129–145, 1931.
24.
LeubaJ. H., The Psychology of Religious Mysticism, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., London, England, 1929.
25.
Committee on Psychiatry and Religion, Mysticism: Spiritual Quest or Psychic Disorder?, Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, New York, 1976.
26.
MaslowA. H., Lessons from the Peak-Experiences, Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 2, pp. 9–18, 1962.
27.
MaslowA. H., Toward a Psychology of Being (2nd Edition), Van Nostrand, Princeton, New Jersey, 1968.
28.
ClarkW. H., The Psychology of Religious Experience, in Current Perspectives in the Psychology of Religion, MalonyH. N. (ed.), William B. Eermans Publishing, Detroit, Michigan, pp. 227–237, 1977.
29.
DeikmanA. J., The Observing Self: Mysticism and Psychotherapy, Beacon Press, Boston, Massachusetts, 1982.
30.
HoodR. W.Jr.HallJ. R.WatsonP. J.BidermanM., Personality Correlates of the Report of Mystical Experience, Psychological Reports, 44, pp. 804–806, 1979.
31.
MyersI. B., The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Educational Testing Service, Princeton, New Jersey, 1962.
32.
CampbellO. M., An Investigation into the Distinguishing Personality Correlates of Mysticism, Dissertation Abstracts International, 44/09-B, p. 2937, 1984.
33.
HoodR. W.Jr., The Construction and Preliminary Validation of a Measure of Reported Mystical Experience, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 14, pp. 29–41, 1975.
34.
CairdD., Religiosity and Personality: Are Mystics Introverted, Neurotic, or Psychotic?, British Journal of Social Psychology, 26:4, pp. 345–346, 1987.
35.
EysenckH. J., The Structure of Human Personality, Methuen, London, England, 1960.
36.
FulgosiA., GSM-1-Upitnik za Ispitivanje Sklonosti Misticizmu i Faktorska Struktura Sklonosti Misticizmu (GSM-1, a Questionnaire for Investigating Inclination Toward Mysticism and the Factor Structure of this Inclination), Revija za Psihologiju, 9:1–2, pp. 21–31, 1979.
37.
JonesJ. W., Personality and Epistemology: Cognitive Social Learning Theory as a Philosophy of Science, Zygon, 24, pp. 23–38, 1989.
38.
TartC. T., Consciousness, Altered States, and Worlds of Experience, The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 18, pp. 159–170, 1986.
39.
HathawayS. R.McKinleyJ. C., Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory Manual (Revised Edition), Psychological Corporation, New York, 1951.
40.
DittesJ., Psychological Characteristics of Religious Professionals, in Research on Religious Development, StrommenM. (ed.), Hawthorne, New York, pp. 422–460, 1971.
41.
McConahayJ., Psychological Testing in Evaluation and Guidance of Seminary Students, Theological Education, 7, pp. 109–120, 1971.
42.
MacPhillamyD. J., Some Personality Effects of Long-Term Zen Monasticism and Religious Training, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 25, pp. 304–319, 1986.
43.
KeppelG., Design and Analysis (2nd Edition), Prentice-Hall, New Jersey, 1982.
44.
FischerR., On Creative, Psychotic and Ecstatic States, in The Highest State of Consciousness, WhiteJ. (ed.), Anchor Books, New York, pp. 175–194, 1972.
45.
HowellJ. D., States of Consciousness and Javanese Ecstatics, in Creating Indonesian Cultures, AlexanderP. (ed.), Oceania Publications, Sydney, Australia, pp. 135–158, 1989.
46.
EpsteinM., The Deconstruction of the Self: Ego and “Egolessness” in Buddhist Insight Meditation, The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 20, pp. 61–69, 1988.
47.
TartC. T., States of Consciousness, E. P. Dutton, New York, 1975.
48.
KatzJ. M., Altered States of Consciousness and Emotion, Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 2, pp. 37–50, 1982–83.
